Having out-qualified his former Formula Renault 2.0 rival by 0.001s, Bottas led Ricciardo for almost the entire race until the Australian pulled off a stunning move with a very late lunge into the first chicane.
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Ricciardo, who chose super-soft tyres for the run to the finish, made the move of the race in a daring pass at the end of a 350km/h straight, outbraking the Williams to take the place.
In chat with Sky Sports after the race, the 27-year-old shared his thoughts on the overtake that secured his P5 and called it good fun, with many experts calling it the best of the season. “But I knew I was a long way back so I wasn’t convinced I would pull it off but once I did I was like, cool! I was giggling in the vehicle!” “I could see that [Bottas] saw me in the mirrors and he is pretty clean – he is not known to be a dirty racer – so he knew I was there and he was not going to turn in on me”.
Race commentator Martin Brundle was effusive in his praise of Ricciardo.
“Out of the last corner I was like: “it’s on this lap”, but I was a long way back”.
“This track’s been a favourite of mine for having some fun passes, because the braking zones are so long”.
Red Bull Renault team-mate Max Verstappen was seventh, behind Bottas after storming past Force India’s Sergio Perez with five laps to go.
“This was much of a damage limitation race for us, and in a ideal world fifth and sixth (for teammate Max Verstappen) would have been that”.
“I was pretty close to (Valtteri) Bottas in the middle of the race and knew I could race hard from that position. But I had my DRS open and my head tucked, I was very determined to get it”.
Rosberg also cut Hamilton’s championship lead to two points with seven races remaining.
“I’m pleased. Coming into this race you hope for a podium but we knew Ferrari had the edge on us”.
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“But I think we’ll be able to hang on if we can maximize the high downforce circuits”.
